the company we keep

a reflection of gratitude for the people who shape us, near and far

some of my lovely people :,)

Five thousand nine hundred and fifty-one miles.
Five nine five one.
5,951 miles away from home.

The place where I grew up.
The place where I learned to drive.
The place where I made my first mistakes.
The place where I cheered for my high school football team.

The place where I made best friends.
The place where I made even closer friends later on.
The place where my friends and I made our mistakes together.
The place where we learned and grew from those times.

The place where my mom and I curled up to watch Modern Family late at night.
The place where my sister and I fought over the good leggings and then did each other’s hair ten minutes later.

The place where I got into college and left months later.
The place I came back to every so often.
The place that welcomed my college friends time and time again.

The place where I lived so many different little lives without even realizing I was growing up.

And today, I am all but nearly 6,000 miles away from there.

I am here, in a place that is not the same, not familiar, not what raised me, but somehow still mine.
I am in my room where I work, talk, create, sleep, repeat.
I am surrounded by four walls that have not known me for very long.
I am looking at a mirror that looks right back at me and shows me everything I have grown into.

I am here in a home I get to call mine.
I am here in my apartment with roommates I cherish.
I am here in a space that has welcomed people from all different walks of life, many of whom I now get to call my close friends.

Friends who were not always in my story.
Friends who arrived exactly when they were meant to.
Friends who I get to ride this wave with for as long as life allows.
Friends I get to explore new places with, who were also once new to me as well.

Now, just how lovely is that?

How lovely is this gift of the company we keep?
How lovely that life lets us cross paths with people who spark joy, curiosity, wisdom, laughter, tears, healing, celebration, and growth.

All within one lifetime.
All throughout the entirety of our being.

Just… how lovely is that.

So, I sit here in my bed, looking at the reflection of my life standing right in front of me. Looking at the world of memories I have built, I have shared.

I feel the presence of every person who has entered my world at one point or another. The childhood friends, the teenage memories, the college girls I’ll never forget, the family who shaped me, and the family I’ve found along the way. The ones who stayed. The ones who drifted. The ones who came in like tides and left like seasons.

Regardless of the way they moved, I hold in my heart the blessing it is to have had them at all.

Because having someone to talk to, to ramble to, to tell stories to, to share even the smallest details of your life with, and having them listen and be present, that is something to be grateful for.

To all of my people, near or far, present or past, know that pieces of me were built from you.
My heart, my mind, and my way of being are all shaped by the love around me.

We build each other.
We strengthen each other.
We keep each other going.

And for that, I am endlessly grateful for every kind of love, every kind of connection, every kind of moment we get to experience together.

People need connection.
People need love.
People need people.

And with the company we keep, we remember that we truly have all of that, all around us.

xoxo,

Avalon